Thoughts and mutterings from @vontweeter
Co Founder and CeeO of haztime.com

Monday, 20 April 2015

Trying Reverse by Jeunesse

My mother has been talking up Jeunesse products for the last few months. And been sending me lots of YouTube videos and other information about it. Mainly because she has seen the benefits of it on her friends when she went back to Canada. What happened was she met up with some friends whom she hadn't seen in a little while and she found that they looked younger and much healthier. As a cancer survivor who has done well but wants to get back to 100% she of course wanted to find out what the secret was.

They told her it was Jeunesse. And got her to try the very expensive products over the next few weeks. I was then told how this was great and how she got her energy up and how she wanted me to do the business. Uh oh. Not one of those! Yep a network marketing opportunity (think Amway). And I don't tend to really have that bad a reaction to them. I've tried a number of these businesses mainly because I liked the product but didn't like the work to build the business! And it was another one of those. Again I may like the product but I don't like being locked into trying to drum up business or being locked into buying stuff from them on a regular basis.

When she got back to Sydney (she stays in Canada months at a time) I saw her and she really did look better! Her skin was glowing, her face looked "tighter" and overall she just seemed happier and healthier. I was all for approving that!

And Uncle Archon was also looking great. He had more hair on his head and it was coming back black!!! But he wasn't on the Jeunesse products. He was still taking ecosway Bio-AFA pills. Which I had also started taking in earnest when I heard his hair was blacker :) (I had been trying things like He Shou Wu/Fo-Ti in order to try and reverse the grey in my hair...) I wanted to continue to take the Bio-AFA but I was gifted a 'membership' to Jeunesse with a huge supply of a product called Reverse. Basically I was signed up if I wanted it or not. My mum and Uncle Archon were insistent that I should stop taking the Bio-AFA for now and take the (more expensive!) Reverse instead. (Contrast about $30 for a month vs $100 per month). But then the Reverse is meant to do so much more... including my hair colour, my skin, my energy - basically everything.... hmm... sounds a bit too good.

My mother believes that I won't need to 'sell' that people will just come up to me and ask what I've been doing. Well it's a bit of humour her and "what can it hurt". I've been trying a few things already as I'm really into the Tim Ferriss 4 Hour Body and Dave Asprey Bulletproof Diet type stuff even if I don't adhere to any of it :) (and cherry pick the things I like and think can be maintained).

I don't know why I'm so hesitant even to blog about this. Part of me is saying to do something online as no one seems to have done very well with SEO on the Jeunesse products or if they have I've been using the wrong terms. (I tried searching for Reverse Jeunesse Review and there are short snippets but no real long form reviews. I'm hoping to change that if I do go and do this properly.) I think it's the whole fear of being judged thing. To me it sounded a bit too good to be true and I've been burned so many times with so many things. In addition to that I'm trying to focus on the 5 things I'm trying to do (ha! focus is something I'm working on OK?!)

But at the same time I've been quite impressed at how my Mum looks and I've often been drawn into the herbs and supplements world that are adaptagens and other herbs that are mentioned in iherb reviews. I then end up just buying them and trying them.

These were the supplements I was taking in January 2015

So this morning (Monday 20 April 2015) I opened and had my first pack of the Reverse Gel. It looks like an energy gel pack (Like Gu gels). It's not as thick as a Gu gel or as sweet as the ones I use to take (I think Torq was the brand I used). Each pack is 13 calories so not huge and isn't meant to replace anything except some of the other pills. So I didn't take any of my usual supplements and instead just took the one packet. Let's see how I go.

An unboxing of the Reserve by Jeunesse box of gels

I did a quick mental scan of how I feel and also the 'problems' I have at the moment as well as a quick mental journal entry. Which I really should jot down as my memory is not the best and I do tend to get false memories :)

Mini-Journal bit

Got up at 5.45am after being awake since 5.10am and having my Sleep App telling me I should get up. I'm mentally awake at this point but just don't want to get out of bed as the rest of my body and mind is still wanting to snooze! (This is my usual)

Walked the dog in the rain - short sort of block

Had some ACV (Apple Cider Vinegar) - I take this as I've found I get the 'shakes' if I don't... (the shakes are something I can't explain well but I get it when I'm tired? or when there are temp changes and feel very weak and have been known to faint!) It also seems to help with cravings as I don't get them any more - only as a mental craving rather than a strong force unto it self.

Had the Reverse (after doing a quick unboxing video - not yet cleaned up so I'll leave it for now - and taking a couple of selfies as evidence or the "before" shot). Really unflattering so I'll keep it for when I need it.

Breakfast was a cup of tea and 2 slices of peanut butter bread (white) - I haven't been eating as much bread recently but due to some of my issues (below) I figured that I should just revert back to what I was doing and start again removing things!

Self scan of issues

Lack of sleep (self inflicted) and get around 5-6 hours per night

Concentration levels - I need to learn to focus better rather than being distracted by any new thin

Period - ugh. For the last say 8 months I've been having a terrible time. Although this morning I will pick up a bottle of Black Strap Molasses (thanks to my friend J and to Earthclinic) to see if that helps. I've been having very drawn out periods and heavy days which are much worse than I had in the past.

Overweight - again self inflicted but something that at least is stable and not still growing that I know of

Eyesight still pretty poor after trying to improve it in the last few years. It's better than it was but I am not so good at continuing to do the exercises etc. They get very tired when wearing contact lenses by around 6pm.

Tenseness - I find I'm often clenching my jaw and have shoulders that are 'up' rather than in a relax state. I know if I tell myself to relax my shoulders I can almost all the time.

Short fuse for being annoyed - this could be because I'm staying at my MIL's place but in general as I age I do feel it easier to be annoyed.

Shakes - I get these tremors or shakes and weakness (as outlined above) occasionally. It's definitely better if I take ACV every morning. I've had tests for low blood sugar and other things but no one can tell me why I get these but due to self experimentation I've found that if I take a splash of ACV in the morning it doesn't see to occur.

Back pain - about 12 - 18 months ago I had an excruciating pain in my back. So much so I had to take pain killers (I really hate 'real' pills unless necessary). I now do a standing desk a lot of the time so I can reduce to chance of it coming back. I still get pains but it's more like an ache and usually something I can manage easily as it seems 'normal' rather than the sharper pain I was getting previously.

Aging in general - I'm over the hill. Well at least in age. So now my hair is greying and my joints twinge every so often. I had a sore arm (right) for a little while and ended up switching my mouse to the left hand side to help train my brain and stop my right arm getting over used.

Otherwise I'm relatively healthy. I try and do too much (but can't seem to help doing that!)

So let's see what this Reverse stuff does. I'm finishing this blog post on the way home and noticed today I was pretty tired but not significantly more than usual. My morning routine changed in that normally I have the Fo-Ti and Bio-AFA and have been having breakfasts of Bulletproof coffee. I did have a sweet craving but didn't end up succumbing.

Usually at the end of this type of article there would a link to the person's affiliate/join link. I won't post one up just yet. Let me trial this first and advise...